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Jesus, his home, his journey, his challenge - Introduction

by SPCK - David J. Bryan

Introduction This book is the fruit of a ten-year gestation period! In 2001, when I was the New Testament Tutor and Director of Studies at the Queen’s Foundation in Birmingham, I took the opportunity to visit Israel. I stayed at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute for four weeks, fro…

Psalms for Everyone - The God of Atonement and the God of the Harvest

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The God of Atonement and the God of the Harvest Psalm 65 A lively but respectable-looking student was telling me her life story. She had reacted against a Christian upbringing while she was at college and (among other things) had become involved with drugs and with a guy who was …

Psalms for Everyone - When You Feel Vulnerable and Threatened

by SPCK - John Goldingay

When You Feel Vulnerable and Threatened Psalm 66 Today is the anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States. For some reason it has reminded me of the first time I visited the United States, during the first Gulf War in 1990. The plane was half empty, which seemed …

Psalms for Everyone - On Telling God What to Do

by SPCK - John Goldingay

On Telling God What to Do Psalm 70 As usual, this Sunday morning in church we prayed that the church might be one, that it might faithfully preach the gospel to the ends of the earth, that there might be justice and peace on the earth, and that the world might be freed from pover…

Psalms for Everyone - Death Cathches You When You Don't Expect It To

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Death Catches You When You Don’t Expect It To Psalm 49 We recently buried the second-oldest member of our congregation, who until she faded away quickly at the end had regularly attended church. We drove quite a way to the cemetery, and I wondered why, until I discovered that her…

Psalms for Everyone - There Is No God Here

by SPCK - John Goldingay

There Is No God Here Psalm 53 Yesterday, my wife and I walked through crowds of people whose faces seemed to say, “There is no God here.” They were crowds walking up and down the pier at Santa Monica among the stands selling ice cream and sunhats and hotdogs. They should have bee…

Psalms for Everyone - Wake Up, God!

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Wake Up, God! Psalm 44 In connection with Psalm 20 I’ve mentioned that our church has just had to accept that we could no longer afford to pay the salary of a pastor. I mentioned this to one of my sons in England, who expressed surprise that such a thing could happen, surmising t…

Psalms for Everyone - When Suffering Links to Sin

by SPCK - John Goldingay

When Suffering Links to Sin Psalm 38 A friend of mine recently gave me a moving description of the Alcoholics Anonymous group to which he belongs. People go to meetings because they are desperate. They know they cannot kick their habit on their own. It’s more like a disease. They…

Psalms for Everyone - I Am Going to Die

by SPCK - John Goldingay

I Am Going to Die Psalm 39 I didn’t think much about dying until my grandson was born, and then the thought came to me that I could die now; I had done my job for the human race’s future by fathering a son who had himself fathered a son. I thought about it again three or four yea…

Psalms for Everyone - Where Is Your God?

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Where Is Your God? Psalm 42 There is a poignant movie called James’ Journey to Jerusalem about a young Zulu who has been designated to be his village’s next pastor. If it were the West he would be sent to seminary, but the village decides that the best way to prepare him for his …

Psalms for Everyone - When Life Continues to Be Darkness

by SPCK - John Goldingay

When Life Continues to Be Darkness Psalm 43 I’ve just been reading a Darfuri refugee’s account of how he came to be in a camp in Chad. As a farmer in Sudan he was tortured by the application of a clothes iron to his back, his legs, his hands, and his head because the members of o…

PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Philemon and the Study of Paul

by SPCK - N T Wright

Part 1: PAUL AND HIS WORLD Chapter One RETURN OF THE RUNAWAY? 2 Philemon and the Study of Paul (i) Introduction This brief study of the small masterpiece we call the letter to Philemon has introduced us, in an actual example, to most of the topics we face as we move towards a ful…

PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Philemon as Allegory: Theology, History and Reconciliation

by SPCK - N T Wright

Part 1: PAUL AND HIS WORLD Chapter One RETURN OF THE RUNAWAY? 3. Philemon as Allegory: Theology, History and Reconciliation What follows now is a jeu d’esprit, a bit of Pauline foolishness for which the reader’s indulgence and pardon is requested. It bears no weight of argument, …

PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Worldview, Theology and History

by SPCK - N T Wright

Part 1: PAUL AND HIS WORLD Chapter One RETURN OF THE RUNAWAY? 2 Philemon and the Study of Paul (iii) From Worldview to Theology and History We have, then, a set of questions about Paul (history, theology, exegesis and ‘application’, each with considerable subdivisions), and a set…

Psalms for Everyone - You Are Not Alone

by SPCK - John Goldingay

You Are Not Alone Psalm 3 When I watch a thriller such as one from The Bourne Identity trilogy, I wonder what it would be like to have everyone against me and not be able to trust anyone. Then I come out of the story at the end and realize that it’s just a story. But last night w…

Prayers for Advent 1 - Year A

by John Birch

Prayers of adoration, confession and thanksgiving for Advent: ADORATION The Advent story of hope and mystery, anticipation, preparation. A kingdom of this world and the next and a king appearing when we least expect. Heaven touching earth... CONFESSION Forgive your people who slu…

Prayers for Advent 3 - Year A

by John Birch

Prayers of Adoration, Confession and Thanksgiving for Advent 3 ADORATION We are blessed if, knowing you as Lord we are obedient to your Word. We are blessed if in our journeying we respond to your call to follow... CONFESSION God of wholeness, healing and power, f orgive our relu…

Prayers for Sunday after Christmas Year A

by John Birch